The Giant and the Dragon
The tribute has been left behind and they've vanished. For such insignificant little creatures, they're surprisingly wise.
“···Sister.”
“Yes···”
Katima and Catiyu began inching their way toward the door.
There was no telling what that Kim Hwang-je bastard might do next.
Hadn't he even shouted “Transform!” right before disappearing with teleportation?
There was a chance he might grow gigantic and charge straight into battle, so the moment an opportunity appeared, they needed to escape immediately···
“Where do you think you're going?”
Nax snorted, blocking the doorway with her massive body.
Her enormous head loomed from above, staring down at Katima and Catiyu.
“Since I have answered your call, it is only proper that you pay the price. Offer me tribute, and I shall open the path.”
“What are you talking about? You already received payment earlier, and in return you were supposed to save us.”
“Puhahaha— I kept my word on that. Look. Didn't your enemy flee in fear of me? Therefore, now you must pay the toll for the road!”
Such absurd nonsense. But demanding tribute for treasure was simply a dragon's nature.
For Nax, this was just another ordinary day.
“Now then, what will you offer me? The main bodies of you dolls are quite valuable on their own··· Gold would be nice, but eyes or organs would also do···”
The moment Nax thrust her massive face forward—
Hssssss—
Steam hissed as the sarcophagus opened.
Inside lay the naked Kim Hwang-je, as expected.
Seeing the body with its eyes closed, Nax spoke.
“Oh ho, this little creature understands the value of tribute. It has offered the doll's entire body to receive my protection.”
“Human! You must be watching! That's my body···!”
The appearance had changed, but the sensation was unmistakable.
It was precisely his “former body.”
However, Catiyu felt an awkwardness in his language circuits and had no choice but to close his mouth.
Something was off.
Why was his body in there, transformed into a different shape···
“Wait! Don't panic! This is the Emperor's scheme!”
Katima whispered to Catiyu.
There was no way he would expose that ominous lower body galaxy without reason.
The instant Katima sensed the danger—
All the mana in the surroundings began rushing toward the body.
Kim Hwang-je's avatar had started absorbing the power of the Otherworld!
Manifestation
Consumes 1 Grim per minute
“Ooooh, it's a moving doll!”
While the dragon rejoiced without restraint at the sight,
The body—Kim Hwang-je—opened his eyes and stood up.
“I'm not bothered by being naked anymore.”
“······.”
Wait, is that seriously your opening line?
That's the best you could come up with?
Katima swallowed her words and watched Nax's reaction.
As expected, Nax was snorting with excitement.
A living, moving doll!
Collecting something like that was surely a dragon's greatest joy.
Kim Hwang-je shouted.
“Come on then. I'll turn you into a scaled lizard!”
“Puhahahahahahaha!”
The dragon burst into roaring laughter.
Then she pressed down on the head of Kim Hwang-je's avatar with her right index finger.
Her claw was as large as his entire head.
“How adorable. Is this one of those popular automaton dolls nowadays? Puhaha··· Huh···?”
The head, no bigger than her fingertip,
began to grow larger.
A neck appeared where her finger had been, then a chest, then a waist slowly rose.
By the time her finger pointed directly at his lower body—
Starlight poured down.
The dragon's lips twitched.
“Holy fucking shit···”
“Aaaah! My body!”
Catiyu pointed in horror.
The galaxy's light wrapped around them in majestic splendor.
“You bastaaaaard!”
Katima roared in fury. Catiyu dropped to his knees with a thud. Nax lifted her chin, staring up at the majestic sight.
High above them floated Kim Hwang-je's enormous face, hovering in the darkness.
Mammalian eyes don't glow in the dark.
But when those eyeballs grew larger than a dragon's and the light bursting from his lower body illuminated the ruined temple, such details hardly mattered.
“Time to become a jewel.”
Kwaaaaaaaa—!
Though spoken lightly, the thunderous voice blew away every speck of dust in the narrow passage.
Nax flinched and flapped her wings, retreating in panic.
“You damn doll bastards! Why the hell are you running from a demigod?!”
Katima shouted.
“Let's go!”
“Huuuumaaan! This isn't over! Next time I will definitely get my body back···!”
Katima grabbed the collar of the aggrieved Catiyu and fled behind the dragon.
A status window appeared above Kim Hwang-je's head.
The Castle Becomes Me
Every single second was more precious than spending money like water!
Kuuuuuu—!
Kim Hwang-je's massive hand moved, seizing Nax by the neck.
“How dare you, you wretch!”
“Ugh!”
The dragon bit down hard on Kim Hwang-je's hand.
Thanks to her shark-like triangular teeth, blood poured freely, but Kim Hwang-je didn't mind.
“This is a doll, you stupid lizard!”
Kim Hwang-je gripped the dragon's neck tightly and slammed his fist into her face.
Boom! Boom!
The sound of punching a dragon's face was more magnificent than striking a war drum.
Not once, but twice, three times, four. Caught up in the thrill, Kim Hwang-je swung his fists wildly.
“Kwaaaaaah! Forest! Protect me!”
Has a dragon ever suffered such humiliation in her life?
Nax chanted a druid spell, summoning plants from all directions.
Roots and vines rose up to wrap around Kim Hwang-je. He shook his body violently.
“They're in the way!”
Wasn't tug-of-war the most dangerous event at a sports festival?
If the rope snapped, the recoil would slice through fragile human bodies.
The vines tearing apart felt much the same.
As the vines gripping Kim Hwang-je's body snapped one by one, the severed tendrils lashed out like whips in every direction.
Boom—! Kwa-kwa-kwaang!!
Katima blocked the falling vine-whips with spells and shouted at Catiyu.
“Run! Hurry! We can't beat a monster like that without preparation!”
The moment Katima and Catiyu tried to flee through the doorway—
Kuuuung—!
A massive hand blocked the exit.
The wind and impact made both dolls' bodies shudder.
“Hehehe. Where do you think you're going?”
“Kyaaak!”
“Uwaaak!”
The siblings screamed in terror.
So, who was the villain now?
Kim Hwang-je laughed.
But then a green beam struck him directly in the face.
Fwoooooooosh!
A green dragon's breath—powerful acid!
“Uwaa, it's hot!”
Kim Hwang-je clutched his face and stumbled backward with heavy thuds.
The entire temple shook.
When he slammed his back against the wall with a boom, the wall collapsed and the building split apart.
“Sister! Now!”
“Right···!”
“Uuuugh!”
But blinded by the stinging pain, Kim Hwang-je flailed his hands wildly, and his heavy palm once again smacked Catiyu.
Wham!
“Kwaaaaaah!”
Thud! Boom!
Catiyu flew like a fly swatted by a flyswatter and crashed into the wall.
“Huuuumaaan! I will have my revenge!!”
Like a shrimp whose head had been ripped off, only the black armor fell to the floor while the head flew beyond the door, screaming.
The screams grew fainter and fainter.
“···Lost the body again!”
Katima chased after Catiyu and vanished beyond the door.
Kim Hwang-je scraped the acidic breath dripping down his face and tossed it into the Trade Window.
“Ugh, it feels like someone sprayed capsaicin sauce on me!”
“Sauce···?”
The breath she had poured with all her might onto his face—
Her pride. The great breath of a green dragon—was being called sauce?
Nax glared furiously and spread her wings wide.
“I'll rip you apart with my claws and talons! Come at me, giant!!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaah!!”
Kim Hwang-je, eyes still stinging too much to open properly, charged in recklessly and began a bloody brawl.
Inside the ancient ruined temple,
a battle unfolded between a naked giant and a dragon!
Nax pecked at him like an eagle with her snout.
Her long-accumulated dragon combat instincts!
Tail, claws, and terrifying magic all lashed out at Kim Hwang-je.
She swung her talons and claws with precision, slashing and stabbing him.
“Uwaa, it stings! It stings, you damn lizard!”
Kim Hwang-je punched Nax in the forehead.
Then he bit straight into her face.
“Kwaaaaaah!”
Unbelievable.
A human biting a dragon's mouth!
“Damn it! It tastes sour. Where the hell did I bite?”
There is an old saying that when you can't see, nothing scares you.
That was exactly Kim Hwang-je's current situation.
His eyes stung so badly from the acid that he couldn't see anything, so there was nothing to fear.
He kept biting down hard on Nax's mouth and neck.
“It hurts! It hurts! You bastard! Kwaaaaaah!”
Of course it was sour!
How could anyone bite the mouth that had just spewed breath?
This was more dangerous than biting a cobra's mouth.
While Nax flinched at this first experience of her life, Kim Hwang-je swept her hind leg, tripped her, and grabbed the limb.
“Uhahaha, got you, you little rascal!”
“Guh!”
Thud!
The dragon crashed backward, slamming the back of her head against the wall.
Kim Hwang-je began spinning her around and around like he was playing a VR wrestling game!
“Kwaaaaaah! Let go! Let go, human!!”
Bitten and then put in a wrestling hold.
How could a dragon who had lived her entire life ever suffer such humiliation? Nax wailed at the top of her lungs.
Whoooosh whoooosh whoooooosh!
The sound in her ears was like someone had pressed an enormous conch shell against them and wouldn't stop.
“Giant Swing!”
When a body this enormous grabbed a dragon and swung her around, the dust rose like a cyclone and the ground shook violently.
“You bastard! Just because you're big, huh? Blocking the road and extorting money—are you a thug? Huh?!”
“Uwaaaaaah! Huuuuumaaan!! Stooooop iiiiiit!”
It was a sad story, but Kim Hwang-je had been shaken down for money when he was very young.
Let's leave it at that.
Anyway, Kim Hwang-je used every technique he'd seen on TV programs as a child on the dragon without restraint.
“Aigoo, Your Majesty! Use the techniques I taught you! The ones I taught you! Not those embarrassing moves! The Gryphon's··· Your Majesty!”
Benedict's weeping voice seemed to echo from far above his main body's head, but he ignored it.
He'd think about that after taking off the eyepatch.
Right now, he was enjoying the moment!
[Are you watching, Hunter?! Are you watching, Artisan?! This is the dignity with which I protect you all!]
He even showed off a little.
Before the Artisan could finish speaking,
Kim Hwang-je slammed Nax straight into the wall.
Craaaash—!
All the vines were torn apart. The stone temple shattered and collapsed.
“Aigoo! The ancient ruins···!”
Benedict's sighing voice buzzed in his ear.
Between the tumbling piles of dirt, Nax's two hind legs and tail stuck out, twitching violently, her head buried in the ground.
“From now on, you're Lizard No. 1. Got it?”
“···Kuuweeeek···”
The dragon vomited blood.
“Demigod··· suddenly bringing out your main body··· is cheating··· causality···”
“What are you even saying? Here, take this. Labor Correction!”
“Uuuugh!”
The tense Nax screamed, but nothing happened.
“What··· what is this?”
Of course. Since this wasn't his main body, he couldn't use the castle's skills or The Castle Becomes Me.
“Hmph··· even you make mistakes···!”
“No I don't!”
Embarrassed, Kim Hwang-je leaped up and struck her head again with the edge of his hand.
“Phoenix Hand Blade!”
Kwaaaang!
Flames flashed, and a huge lump rose on the dragon's head.
“Kwaaaaaah!”
“Stay still and wait.”
Kim Hwang-je looked up at the sky. The moon had risen.
A buzzing sound rang in his ear.
“The new moon has risen! We must hurry. I shall open the path.”
“Just a moment. Let me finish this one off first.”
A short while later, the giant avatar vanished and Kim Hwang-je reappeared.
He stood before the unconscious Nax, who now had a large lump on her head—still burning thanks to the Phoenix Hand Blade.
“I sentence you to Labor Correction.”
“Sob sob··· Hic···”
Before Nax could even speak, Kim Hwang-je's shadows rushed in from all directions.
They crawled into every corner of her body, and Nax sank into the shadows.
“Uwaaaaaah! You demigod trash! If you think you can make a dragon submit··· you're mistaken! A huge mistake! Ugyaaaaa!”
She kept calling him a demigod even though he wasn't one.
Anyway, the dragon was sucked into the shadows while still holding onto her grand delusion(?).
And so she was locked inside the 218 Prison's special containment cell for giant monsters.
Alarm
Your Majesty!
Congratulations on obtaining a female pet lizard. However, she is the weakest among dragons.
She is merely a wild dragon.
Please do not get too excited.
···She was female?
Kim Hwang-je scratched his neck.
Also, what the hell is a “ttegeolluk”?
Ah, that wasn't what I meant to say.
You have successfully captured an otherworld monster directly. Your level has increased.
Level up. Congratulations!
New summonable residents added!
⊳ Gluttonous Beggar
⊳ Greenhorn Scribe [Cannot summon until facility acquired]
⊳ Honest Diplomat [Cannot summon until facility acquired]
⊳ Playful Librarian [Cannot summon until facility acquired]
⊳ Thug Shepherd [Cannot summon until facility acquired]
No matter how many times he looked at them, all these titles were completely abnormal.
Kim Hwang-je narrowed his eyes.
He would listen to explanations about these later and decide whether to use them or not.
“Sir Benedict. Let's take that with us. As for the children, another opportunity will come later.”
“That would be best. After seeing today's battle··· we'll be busy with training for a while.”
Kim Hwang-je shuddered.
For some reason, Benedict was clearly sighing.
Next, Kim Hwang-je picked up Catiyu's torso that had fallen to the ground.
This time it wasn't a homunculus body, but a suit of armor without the helmet.
◈ Size adjustable
◈ Can only be equipped on Catiyu's body
◈ Emergency equipment created by Katima for Catiyu
“Then my avatar should be able to wear this too, right?”
Wasn't that Catiyu's body?
How convenient.
It would be nice if they showed up often, dropped items, and disappeared again.
He could avoid any more naked shows now.
Kim Hwang-je dressed the avatar lying in the sarcophagus with the armor.
The figure clad in black armor truly looked like a cosmic invader.
“Not bad, kid. You look handsome.”
Kim Hwang-je closed the sarcophagus lid and stood up.
Benedict pointed at the tall green tower rising in the distance.
“That is the Record Archive. Let us go.”
“Finally···!”
Kim Hwang-je climbed the hill and approached the towering green crystal.